In Poland, Bogdanka LUK Lublin beat ZAKSA 3:0 without Leon — Interia Sport

In Poland, Bogdanka LUK Lublin defeated ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle 3:0 in the opening round of the men's TAURON Liga. The Polish runners-up won the away match without Wilfredo Leon, who remained on the bench. Interia Sport reports that Japanese outside hitter Ran Takahashi scored 15 points in his debut match in the Polish league.

The visitors' advantage in three sets

The team from Lublin won the sets 25:23, 25:22 and 25:21. In the first set, the visitors quickly built a four-point lead, while Takahashi had nine points to his name by the end of the set. ZAKSA levelled the score at 18:18, but the home side's setter Marcin Krawiecki made an error in the final rally.

In the second set, ZAKSA took the lead at 11:10 after an ace by Tomasz Pujol. However, Bogdanka LUK seized the initiative after Takahashi's counterattack at 18:16. In this set, Mikołaj Sawicki scored six points and Mateusz Malinowski added five.

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Grozdanov named MVP

The Lublin team started the third set with a 6:1 run. Middle blocker Alex Grozdanov played a notable role during this spell, recording a successful block and an attack. Grozdanov was named the match's best player.

Bogdanka LUK coach Stéphane Antiga also kept opposite hitter Kewin Sasak on the bench, though he later received limited playing time. Libero Tomohiro Ogawa played his first Polish league match for the Lublin club and, according to the outlet, performed well in reception and defence. ZAKSA setter Quinn Isaacson did not play because of an injury, while German Jan Zimmermann was not registered in time for the first match of the season.

Last season, Bogdanka LUK Lublin won the Polish Cup, the Polish Super Cup and silver medals in the national championship.